The SitePoint Forums have moved.

You can now find them here.
This forum is now closed to new posts, but you can browse existing content.
You can find out more information about the move and how to open a new account (if necessary) here.
If you get stuck you can get support by emailing forums@sitepoint.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

$ postmaster -D /usr/share/postgresql/data
postmaster does not find the database system.
Expected to find it in the PGDATA directory "/usr/share/postgresql/data",
but unable to open file "/usr/share/postgresql/data/global/pg_control": No such
file or directory

This part I can understand ? The variable required, ie PGDATA [and it's sister variables] all belong to WinNT/Pro2000

(Which I've had PostgreSQL running under that OS for a while - before my machine crashed and I reinstalled Win98SE;

Unable in re-install Win2000Pro as I forgot to format that partition; ie D:

Would need to format C: and repeat again which I'm not prepared to do)

Anyways, Win98SE doesn't have this variable thus I got the above error message;

Any ideas on this though ? The first steps have got me further than what the said article stipulates

Thanks btw.

--EDIT--

$ ipc-daemon2 &
[1] 573193
$ initdb -D /usr/share/postgresql/data
The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "Docter".
This user must also own the server process.

The database cluster will be initialized with locale C.

initdb: The directory /usr/share/postgresql/data exists but is not empty.
If you want to create a new database system, either remove or empty
the directory /usr/share/postgresql/data or run initdb with
an argument other than /usr/share/postgresql/data.
[1]+ Done ipc-daemon2
$ postmaster -D /usr/share/postgresql/data &
[1] 461553
$ postmaster does not find the database system.
Expected to find it in the PGDATA directory "/usr/share/postgresql/data",
but unable to open file "/usr/share/postgresql/data/global/pg_control": No such
file or directory

Start your newly-installed Cygwin Bash Shell and complete these steps:Install ipc-daemon2 as an NT service
As you remember from the Cygwin installation, Cygipc is the interprocess communication daemon that PostgreSQL depends on.ipc-daemon2 --install-as-service

The PostgreSQL Global Development group has pushed back native windows support until 7.5, due out sometime in 2004. For more information about current windows options, check out: http://techdocs.postgresql.org/guides/Windows

If you would like to help with PostgreSQL win32 development, there is a status page available at:
http://candle.pha.pa.us/main/writings/pgsql/win32.html

PostgreSql is indeed a very powerfull database, but they have to implement a native Windows version. The Windows version is still and still delayed. I moved to Firebird database, but I found PostgreSql very actractive.

This is a pretty good tutorial, insofar as it got PostgreSQL up and running under XP for me. However, it took a little research and tweaking to get initdb to run.

First, making the directory /usr/share/postgresql/data in Cygwin was a BAD IDEA. It resulted in all sorts of nasty permissions errors (couldn't create any files). Creating it in Windows took care of that.

Second, initdb was still having permissions issues when setting up pg_shadow (whatever that is). A little research revealed that the following commands take care of this problem:

From http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&selm=8806a44b.0401270751.214995a1%40posting.google.com

You need to install the Cygwin
encrypt/decrypt library. Run the Cygwin setup.exe, in "Selected
Packages" choose
Libs -> "crypt: Encryption / Decryption utility and library", complete
the setup. Now you should have the cygcrypt-0.dll on your cygwin/bin
folder and you should be able to run postgresql.

System error 2069 has occurred. The service did not start due to a logon failure. I followed the tutorial step by step, and was able to login under windows as postgres/postgres, yet the postmaster service did/will not start. As a result, pgsql will not start either...

any help? (i've tried to run net start postmaster as both postgres, and normal admin user, as logged in by windows, neither work)

I fixed that error, my problem was that somehow the user 'postgres' didn't have rights ?, whatever...

but I fixed that, by going into services... right clicked postmaster, properties... Logon tab... and put in the password again... it prompted me that he didn't have rights, should they be given, answer yes...

BUT.. now I have a different problem...

I get this error when I run `net start postmaster` (OR start from the services window):

Could not start the postmaster service on Local Computer. Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly

When I do this from command line, I get this:

$ net start postmaster
The postmaster service is starting.
The postmaster service could not be started.

A system error has occurred.

System error 1067 has occurred.

The process terminated unexpectedly.

---
ultimately the same error, but perhaps more clues. I've done the standard 'restarting windows fixes all problems' a few times now, no such luck. Anyone else with any clues?